Castelo Branco Castle

The construction of the Castelo Branco Castle is attributed to the Templar Military Order, around the year 1220, which received these lands from the first Portuguese king, D. Afonso Henriques, after its conquest from the Arabs.
This fortress was part of the so called “Tejo river defensive line”, from which also were part the lovely Almourol Castle, the Monsanto Castle, the Tomar Castle and the Zêzere Castle.

In the 16th century, Castelo Branco had the configuration of a fortress-locality, in which even the mother church is located inside the castle. Throughout the years the castle has been damaged by the Castile attacks and even by the French invasions.
The period after the French invasions aggravated the destructive process for all the defensive structures, as even the public power authorized the population to remove stones from the walls in order to built their residences.

This destruction process was also helped by nature, and already in the 20th century, some catastrophes haunted the region.
Since 1940 that the Castle has been receiving several conservation works, despite some consider that all the alterations transformed the monument main features.